Community Participation in Fisheries management in Tanzania

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT Abs tract: Artisanal or Small scale inshore fisheries are one of the economic sub secto rs of the economy and make valuable economic contribution to the coastal communities of Tanzania . It provides rich protein food, employment, income thus contribute to their livelihood. The fishery al so contributes significantly to foreign earnings an d revenue. Small-scale fisheries is by far the most i mportant sector in coastal communities as it employ s more than 177,527 full time fishers and over 4 mill ion people who were engaged in various fisheries related activities. Consequently, the demand for fi shery resources for export and local consumption (f ood security) is growing, leading to further pressure o n finfish and high value invertebrate fish resource s, with the open access nature of the fishery and subject t o little management control, resulted into increasi ngly problems of overexploitation and overcapitalization s which calls for management measures to rescue the situation. In most fishery, the great challenge of fisheries management is to choose the best management regime and strategies to achieve the objectives of managing fishery resources. Human and financial resources must be obtained in order to manage the r esources in a sustainable manner. In the absence of human resources fishing communities can be used in fisheries-dependent monitoring because reliable and accurate information is crucial as only well inform ed decision makers can make good decisions in managing the fishery resources. Tanzania initiates a participatory resource management approach by involving local fishing communities, a system commonly known as co-management.